Coast Guard rescues 7 from sinking boat in Diamond Shoals

PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The Coast Guard rescued seven people Wednesday after the 26-foot boat, Going Deep, started to sink approximately 14 miles east of Cape Hatteras, N.C.

The boaters contacted Coast Guard Sector North Carolina watchstanders at approximately 4:30 p.m. and reported their vessel was taking on water.

The watchstanders issued an urgent marine information broadcast and launched crews aboard a 25-foot Response Boat - Small and a 47-foot Motor Life Boat from Coast Guard Station Hatteras Inlet, and an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C.

Good Samaritians aboard the merchant vessel Diamond Lady responded to the UMIB and altered course to assist.

Once on scene, the Diamond Lady's crew monitored the situation and acted as a communication relay with the Coast Guard until the crews arrived on scene.

Six of the boaters aboard the Going Deep were taken aboard the Coast Guard's RB-S while Petty Officer 1st Class Mark Burgoa, the response boat engineer, boarded the Going Deep and assisted the owner in bailing out water. The two men bailed water for appoximately 30 minutes until the 47-foot Motor Life Boat arrived and put the Going Deep into a stern tow. The crew and the boat were taken to Teach's Lair Marina.

"The crew put their training and knowledge they have gained at the station into this case," said Petty Officer 2nd Class Scott Hunter, the coxswain aboard the RB-S. "That is why we train and practice every day, so that when we do get that call, the response is second nature."